Learning organisations: Can they be shown to exist through the realisation of quantifiable benefits?

Learning Organisation concepts and their implementation have been debated for over fifty years. This paper constructs a position on how learning propagates within a knowledge intensive firm based on extant theory. The key purpose of the research is to establish how the effects of organisational learning can be measured in a knowledge intensive business in the support services sector. Learning Organisation research areas reviewed included studies on Learning Organisation strategy and implementation in the Construction/Project based sectors. Related key topic areas were; measurement; realisation of benefits; and valuation of knowledge assets. The aim is to outline a bridge between Organisational Learning and the knowledge practitioners undertaking the learning. The review examines whether the quantifiable measurement of benefits from Learning Organisation implementations can provide 'evidence' that organisations can learn in a meaningful and beneficial way. The paper reveals that this requires enabling learning as part of normal activity. The ongoing research is aimed at taking the learning from this review to develop strategies for implementing a learning organisation culture in the sponsoring organisation and quantifying the outcomes.